President John Dramani Mahama has hinted at plans to introduce a monthly nationwide clean-up exercise, saying Ghana’s sanitation challenges cannot be resolved through occasional campaigns alone.
The President made the announcement after joining senior government officials and residents at Alajo in Accra to participate in and inspect the first day of the two-day national clean-up exercise, which is aimed at clearing drains, improving sanitation, and reducing the risk of flooding.
According to him, the scale of the sanitation problem requires a sustained national effort rather than one-off interventions.
“Two days are not enough to finish this work, but we are going to institute it so that at least one day every month all of us should come out and clean our surroundings,” he said.
President Mahama noted that the proposal reflects the communal values that once defined Ghanaian society, where keeping the environment clean was regarded as a shared responsibility.
He, however, observed that rapid urbanisation has gradually eroded those values, with many people neglecting their civic duty because of the anonymity that comes with city life.
“That is what our traditional values were about. We are taught to keep a clean environment, but when we all leave our hometowns and come, because of the anonymity of urbanisation, we think that nobody watches us, so we dump those values and we live in filth,” he said.
The President also cautioned residents against using drains as dumping sites, stressing that indiscriminate waste disposal remains one of the major causes of flooding in many parts of the country.
“The drains are not garbage instruments. If you want to dispose of something, you know how to dispose of it,” he said.
He encouraged the public to make proper use of the waste collection infrastructure already available, including skip containers placed at various locations across the capital.
“We have skip trucks that leave containers all over the city. Just go and throw your garbage into the skip, and the truck will come and pick it and take it where it has to take it,” he added.
President Mahama further disclosed that government has begun implementing additional measures to address flooding and improve drainage infrastructure, particularly in Accra, where silted streams and blocked drains continue to increase the risk of flooding during the rainy season.
He revealed that the Minister of Finance has already released GH¢150 million to support flood mitigation works, including the dredging of streams and other critical drainage projects.
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